Some of the universities in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico at greater than 5000ft. elevation draw talent. Since it's a combination of elevation and the program, I don't see many athletes follow J F.
Joe had a solid set up at UNM related to recruiting. He's a smart guy and probably has a similar situation at Louisville. I am sure he has his reasons and it's not really up to any of us to judge what someone should or shouldn't do. Good for him!
As of 30 mins ago there were no lobos in the portal but that could change. It probably depends on who they get to replace Joe. They could decide to stay with a distance person or the admin could decide to go in a different direction. I wouldn't be surprised if that happens, the recruiting/admission pluses exist for track athletes (not just distance). We'll see, I guess.
I don't think it was a secret that Joe was going to move on from UNM at some point, but I'm a bit surprised to see it happen now.
He was a great recruiter who was one of the best at securing too international talent. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of his top runners follow him.
big loss for the Aggies, he built them into a powerhouse. I wonder how many NM athletes go with him.
Why? What's so important about Louisville? Why leave a place that you spent years building up, just to go to a new place?
It's not like he's leaving to go to Oregon or some other big name school with a long tradition in distance running.
Why, you ask? Admin support aka budget. As an ACC member, U of L puts WAY more resources into athletics than MWC (or freefalling Pac 12, if they are so "lucky" to be part of that expansion) UNM. U of L's marquee televised sports (football and men's hoops) are far superior to UNM's, there's a better culture of success there. Facilities alone would be better for both recruiting and training. Sport-specific, the SE regional in xc is far easier to qualify to nationals out of than the Mountain regional. Academic strength is sort of a wash between the two, which probably means it's still fairly easy to get marginal recruits past admissions.
Sport-specific, the SE regional in xc is far easier to qualify to nationals out of than the Mountain regional.
Never understood that sentiment. The South East typically gets it autos and occasionally gets an at large. Why is it easier? I don't believe there are Mountain Region teams who fail to get an at large, that would beat the both the SE autos on an annual basis.
The system is pretty good at getting at least 25 of the top 30 teams. The only region where you could make this argument is the South Central.
Help us build the best running shoe review site for a chance to win a LetsRun t-shirt.Help us build the best running shoe review site for a chance to win one of 10 LetsRun t-shirts.